Scruffy hospitality, Cook Book Clubs and reclaiming the table I hate owing someone a dinner invitation. It’s so high-pressure. I always thought “imperfectionism” was the character flaw until Brene Brown, the vulnerability guru, outed perfectionism as a tactic people use to protect themselves from getting hurt. Ha! I exhaled smugly, I knew there was…
Category: the velocity project
Adapt or Die: how a small town library offers clues to navigating velocity in an accelerating world
There’s a little white board in the corner of Emma Gillis’ office, with a wish list scrawled down it in black marker. Most of the items have been steadily crossed off over the five years since Gillis took the helm of the Pemberton & District Public Library and tried to conjure a future-proof facility. The…
Success, in spite of myself
My local newspaper has folded. And its sister publication, The Pique, which already absorbed the Question’s editorial staff, found space for me, and my column, too, starting February 8. In the editorial yesterday, Clare Ogilvie announced the changes. “Lisa Richardson and her Velocity Project will find a home in the Pique. Pemberton’s favourite writer for…
Think like an ancestor – a parting column for the Whistler Question
“Late Capitalism is as good an excuse of any for not getting out of bed, but huddling under the covers worrying about Donald Trump is a very inefficient way of sticking it to the man.”~ Laurie Penny I found a note from my brother while rummaging around in my office the other day – a…
What Do You Actually Need to Be Happy: A Packing List (adapted for families)
I first had the chance to share this piece at Arc’teryx’s The Bird blog. Thanks to Sarah Leishman for giving me the green-light when I said I wanted to write “something about adventurers trying to maintain their minimalism after having a kid without writing a mommyblog…” My husband gets the job of going through our…
Going hands-free
About 50 days before our baby was due, an acquaintance at a dinner party asked, “So, do you have your bag ready?” “What bag?” asked my partner, the whites of his eyes showing. He’s the logistics guy. He’s the list, plan and equipment guy. If there’s a bag to be packed, he’s the one making…
Say yes to the dancing
My friend has a brain tumour. She mentioned it to me once, almost as an aside, when we were catching up over coffee, and as I mind-rifled through all the things I actually did know about her, trying to fit this new fact into the matrix – her work, her bullshit detector, the power and…
You don’t have time to volunteer, so maybe you should
What science, and Katrina Onstad, author of The Weekend Effect, claim to be the best way to hack time Katrina Onstad hates brunch. The Toronto-based journalist finds it to be a colossal time-waster, although she phrases it more delicately. “I’m a little ambivalent about it. I have had some really nice brunches. But the culture…
If you don’t have Rules to Live By, steal these
A newly single friend has gone on a bit of a tinder-bender lately. I’m talking a globe-trotting sex tour connecting with openly available people on an intimacy bullet-train – swipe right, doors open, go rapidly and directly to your destination. I’ve thought a few times about asking him the secrets of a successful and satisfying…
Garlic Independence Day
I have not bought garlic at the store for at least 5 years. Not so much as a single bulb. I have achieved Garlic Independence. I don’t say this to brag. I’m proud of it, sure. But I also deeply suspect that the minute you announce publicly “I am an amazing garlic grower”, your just-now-reaching-for-the-sun…
Lisa Richardson Bylines 